The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus for conveying food products of varying sizes into a stationary cutting knife for cutting the food products into discrete pieces. More particularly, the invention relates to a conveying apparatus that will not only convey food products of varying sizes, but will also properly orient elongated food products while conveying them to the cutting apparatus.
Devices for cutting or slicing food products into discrete pieces of various shapes and sizes are well known in the art. One such known cutting devices is a "water gun" or hydraulic cutting system that is particularly used for cutting food products, such as potatoes, into slabs or strips. The hydraulic cutting system pumps a mixture of water and the food product to be cut through a pipe such that the product is propelled at a high rate of speed and caused to impact against a stationary cutting knife assembly which cuts the food product into the desired size portions. The resulting mixture of water and cut food product is then discharged and the food product is separated from the water. Water guns are capable of propelling the water and the food product through the knife assembly at a high production rate.
The stationary knife assembly utilized in a typical water gun device has a cutting head block to which is secured a plurality of elongated knife elements in parallel pairs such that they are disposed in a staggered relationship with a 90.degree. offset with respect to adjacent pairs of knife elements. The cutting edges of the knife elements collectively define a plurality of rectangularly-shaped boxes for producing strips of food product having corresponding cross-sectional configurations. A conventional water gun system utilizing a stationary knife assembly of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,793 to Fischer et al.
Another type of food product conveying apparatus replaces the water gun with a dual endless belt conveyer that grips the food product between opposing runs of the belts to propel the food product through the stationary knife assembly. The conveyers are guided by stationary belt guides which must be manually adjusted to accommodate food products of varying sizes. This device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,240 to Fischer et al.
Another known apparatus for cutting elongated food products lengthwise into separate strips utilizes a single conveyer onto which the food products are fed and longitudinally aligned by a plurality of through walls. The aligned food product is thereafter conveyed to a rotating knife assembly which slits the food product into strips as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,109,469 to Urschel et al.
Conventional devices for conveying and cutting food products into a plurality of discrete pieces are large and expensive, particularly in the case of a water gun apparatus. Such known devices are also complex in design and often do not have the ability to operate at high production capacities, or to automatically adjust to accommodate a wide variety of food product sizes.